FYJC admission: Students get 100% thanks to clerical error

They have scored 100 per cent in Std X, still they are nervous about their admission to junior college. The reason? This incredible feat is not theirs, but of the officials sitting in the guidance centres appointed by the Deputy Director of Education (DyDE).

Six students in the First Year Junior College (FYJC) general merit list have ‘obtained’ full marks in the SSC exams but in reality they had not even scored above 75 per cent (see box).

The students, all from outside Mumbai, are the victims of a clerical error in the guidance centres, which committed a major faux pas by punching in the same marks in the columns for ‘Total marks’ and ‘marks obtained’ (that considers best-of-five). So, for example, if a student scored 463, it appeared in both the columns thus making it a 100-per-cent score.

“We went to the guidance centre in Subhedarwada School, Kalyan, where the officials filled up my form. How will I know what mistake they have committed,” asked a perplexed Nikita Wakade, a Bhiwandi resident, whose actual score is 65.2 per cent.

Yesterday was the last day for admissions, so worried students were making corrections in their forms and, in the meantime, DyDE officials had already made the changes with the help of their seat numbers. They have not even informed the concerned candidates. The DyDE office has initiated a process to cross-check the marks of all 20,000-30,000 students who have applied for admission in Mumbai colleges. The irked officials are also considering issuing show-cause notices to the six guidance centres, three in Kalyan and rest in Vile Parle, Titwala and Vithalwadi.

The other sideRajendra Ahire, Assistant DyDE, does not think that the issue demands such attention. “This isn’t a very big issue as their actual scores would have been scrutinised anyway by the colleges where they would have gone for admission. If their admissions don’t take place in the first attempt, it would have been done through betterment options,” said Ahire, adding that they will ask for an explanation from the guidance centres in due time.